Latest / Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast / Episode 024 | Vegas Wins the Lottery. Now the Draft Gets Interesting

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Episode 024 | Vegas Wins the Lottery. Now the Draft Gets Interesting · Set 6: The Official MLV Podcast

• speaker-0: Cheers. It's the said six podcast in person. It's Jenna, it's me, and we're talking the MLV draft lottery, which leads us right into the MLV draft. So all that coming up, plus we're hitting the news. So lock in. It is the Sed Six Podcast. What's going on, everybody? This is the Set Six Podcast. In person with Jenna Rosenthal. We're talking the MLV draft lottery. We're talking the MLV draft. ⁓ we're talking the news first before we launch into everything. But Jenna, it's nice to not see you on the other side of a screen and to be kind of in person for one of these. ⁓ we're we're actually physically in person. But ⁓ it we got a lot of great stuff to talk about to with to everybody today, including the results of the draft lottery, which really will inform us about the draft, which is speaker-1: ⁓ hi. speaker-0: speeding towards us ⁓ at a rate of knots and we're really excited about what these results mean for ⁓ what what is gonna happen with the draft. Maybe some trades, maybe some further analysis of the rosters coming up. So we're gonna get into that. We've got the news. ⁓ but I've completely buried the lead because we've got to tell you everything we typically tell you in all these episodes, which is first please like, comment, and subscribe. We're on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and all of the amazing ways that you get your podcasts. Please, before you listen to this one, which is already episode 24 somehow Please go listen to episode twenty three where we ⁓ chatted about the DC flight and their entire brand launch, which was fantastic. We can actually do show and tell because we have one of the ⁓ the the great little tickets that they gave us ⁓ from being there at the event and kind of like your first class ticket to being able to to go on their flight themed ⁓ day really there, which was so much fun. It was so funny too, chatting with ⁓ Kate Greenberg too. The the planes were going over overhead and it was like the perfect ambiance for the day. But either way, the ⁓ the the Setsick podcast from last week was all DC flight. This week we were talking the draft, like we said. ⁓ we'll do news, we'll do the little bit of discussion about that, and we'll get into it. So without any further blabbing from me, Jenna, hi to see you too. ⁓ let's first start with the news and we'll we'll tease the draft ⁓ discussion coming up in just a little bit. ⁓ but wanted to start by talking about ⁓ Final Six, which we had mentioned a little bit before. ⁓ we knew that we had several US athletes. speaker-1: Hi. Nice to see ya. speaker-0: Who were MLV athletes as well. So Toyosino Banjo, Natalie Foster, and Elena Scott were on this roster. And then the U.S. went on to defeat Mexico in the final. That was, I believe, the second consecutive title for the U.S. They defended that title and actually beat 2026 MLV Championship MVP Sofia Maldonado Diaz, who was on the other side. Held her uncharacteristically to not being the high scorer, but she did actually have an amazing tournament. She was the best spiker. Best receiver, best server, and best scorer. So I feel like if you're not gonna come home with the main championship hardware, that's some pretty good hardware to come home. speaker-1: I mean, that'll make you feel a little bit better about it, but obviously everyone wants to win. And I think you completely skipped over the fact that Team USA kind of ran through that tournament like it was nobody's business. Completely undefeated run through the tournament, final of seven and ⁓ I think that's a pretty dominant performance for team USA that everybody can be proud of. speaker-0: I agree and I also think it's really cool to have three MLV athletes on current rosters there in the tournament represented by Team USA. ⁓ so that was awesome as well. So congratulations to them, congratulations to the final six roster. And ⁓ I think that's almost I think that might be all of the senior team ⁓ events for the the summer. Yeah, I think finally. ⁓ but I say finally only because I speaker-1: That wraps up the calendar. speaker-0: Hope it moves us closer to being out of the summer and into ⁓ our actual season too. I love watching them compete with the national teams. Right. But it's like you get that sort of like you're looking out of the way. Or no, it's the Spongebob meme from when he's like behind the grate. And it's like looking at ⁓ Patrick and Squidward having fun. Or no, it's Squidward looking at us. Of course. There it speaker-1: Okay, also you're I know you live in Southern California and golly is it gorgeous down here. ⁓ you can't call it summer if it's October tomorrow. speaker-0: Fair enough. I know. I know. It is still like kind of the summer calendar. But yeah, you're you're right. You're absolutely right there. ⁓ I know ⁓ a team that is looking forward to even next summer and next fall and even before they even get through this season will probably be Pitt because Olivia Babcock has announced that she's returning. And that was the next bit of news that we wanted to talk about ⁓ in kind of a little bit of an NCAA check here. ⁓ Pitt is one of obviously the the places that we visited this summer, ⁓ which was a blast. And then arguably the best player in c NCAA volleyball. I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna say that she is. That's my hot take for ⁓ for right now. But even if you don't feel that way, certainly among the top, ⁓ made it official that she's coming back for her fifth year. And we have talked before about how that is really going to be a thing we might see more often after the five for five rule. ⁓ but you know certainly a player that a lot of people had their eye on and where she was going to begin her pro journey, they're gonna have to wait speaker-1: Now that's a conversation. Exactly. And I honestly have so much respect for Livia Babcock for coming out and saying, Yeah, no, I'm staying. ⁓ my personal take is it seems like a very college volleyball is so special. We're putting NIL aside, we're putting all that aside. I think a lot of these big name players that still have that potential extra fifth year of eligibility, come on, you're not leaving that. No, I'm leaving early. You're not coming out and I think sometimes the cooler responses, because of course I don't want to distract from the current season that you're in, of like, well, we'll see. I don't know. I'm like, dude, you're on an incredibly dominant, nationally ranked volleyball program. You're staying. In my mind, that seems like a no-brainer to me. And playing otherwise is a little bit of a wishful thinking on our parts. speaker-0: Well, I I think to not acknowledge the elephant in the room of like as you mentioned, they're they're making some pretty great NIL deals. And you wanna maximize that as much as you have. Regardless of, you know, you like the team that you're on, who doesn't wanna make as many runs as you possibly can with this college group that you've, you know, gone through the whole blood, sweat and tears thing with for four prior years or at this you know, at the point in time having the ability to go through four prior years. Right. But yeah, I mean there's that aspect to it. There's the NIL aspect to it. I think it makes Complete sense to return. ⁓ and you know, sometimes it's beating around the bush of like, yes, we're we're making a lot of these great deals. But I think it's it's perfectly acceptable. We we all know that that's a big factor in it. Yeah. ⁓ and I think, you know, good for her for having that option to be able to return. ⁓ but certainly hoping obviously the MLV will be a a potential ⁓ thing to look for speaker-1: ⁓ exactly. We're all just gonna have to sit on our hands a little bit longer. speaker-0: One more year of anticipation. speaker-1: And you'll have to listen to us for another year waiting to talk about that. So sorry in advance. speaker-0: one other thing that we wanted to talk about as well with the ⁓ with the N Cou A is we saw that Leah Edmund was honored in Kentucky. speaker-1: Yeah, no, that was really special. She has been such a transformative player throughout her career and you know, only continues with being that girl for the Atlanta vibe. ⁓ feels like such a natural fit. And it's so good seeing athletes being recognized in their own hall of fames. Even though that's that's the tip of the cap of a long career. She's put into the Hall of Fame. I know it's for her Kentucky achievements, but she's still an active professional and like that's impressive to be racking up that kind of accolades and impact while you're still active. speaker-0: Yeah, and maybe f eventually down the road she can secure another spot as a broadcaster too. Like there's a lot of ⁓ great options. I don't know. ⁓ between these two stories, Jennifer, to me, I don't n I was kind of struck by the the whole, you know, college legend still active and college legend in the next phase of their career, kind of that ⁓ intersection, if you will. I know it's different universities, but that was something I was looking for. speaker-1: No, I think that like I said, it's important to continue to connect and recognize that the college game is such an important feeder and base and a strong foundation for the professional game. It's not like that anywhere else in the world. Our these college programs are turning out high class caliber athletes, high caliber athletes, and we are so honored to have one of the best of the best in our fold. So speaker-0: Can I ask you just a question on that? And it's more about like the NCAA system really as a whole, but do you think in this modern era of a lot of transfers, a lot of you know I mean, you get you get obviously like the Olivia Babcocks will stay for five years, but you have, you know, sometimes players will leave after playing for four, three schools. Are we past the days of like Aaliyah Edmund where you are are, you know, synonymous with one university and your entire achievements there? speaker-1: Okay, so hear me out. If you are Leah Edmund, if you are Olivia Babcock, to I keep using that phrase, if you are that girl for your school, you aren't leaving. The ones who are bopping around a lot might be the ones that are seeking to find that role. you don't leave if you're satisfied with your role, playing time, et cetera, et cetera. Though I do think you make a good point. I know a lot of people are levying the ex accusation at the other sports that The end it's the end of the amateur era. It's the end of the student athlete era, and we are now just turning into a new level of farm farm leagues for the professional game. Certainly with some of the dollar signs being thrown around, that is very much the case. However, I would counter that. It's always been sort of professional, particularly as we're discussing scholarships and things. You you were paid before, maybe not on the same scale, but there was compensation in exchange for your performance or your contributions to the team. So I think it's the same theme. Things just got b bigger. speaker-0: I like that take on it. I think that's that's probably some I think it's somewhere close to that, if not that exactly. ⁓ yeah, I think it's very well said. I'm sure I'm curious how it goes moving forward because I think a lot of these athletes, even if they do switch schools, certainly deserve to be in Rings of Honor and Hall of Fames. I just think it's very interesting how that might get weighted in the future from an athlete who's played at a university for a longer extent of time than one who maybe comes in with a year or two less of eligibility. speaker-1: Actually I'm gonna jump on that. You're never gonna see that again at a mid major. Mm-hmm. You will never see at the mid majors because it ⁓ I I I'm not gonna call myself that girl for Marquette, but I did a lot of really great stuff for Marquette and I had so much loyalty to Marquette and I would like to think that I wouldn't have transferred. There were some discussions towards the end of my career, but when you start putting these really big decisions on, it becomes about a lot more, you know. speaker-0: Admiral. speaker-1: some of these mid major stars are being picked up for bundles and bundles of cash and that decision becomes a lot, lot harder. And I think we're gonna see, unfortunately, a lot less of a development pipeline through the mid majors. And I think that's the great tragedy of this new era is that forget the college system being feeder teams for the pros, the mid majors are going to get completely cannibalized by the power five, four, power four. speaker-0: It'll be something to definitely keep an eye on going forward. ⁓ yeah, no, it's I'm I'm curious to see how it'll turn out. What I'm also curious to see how it'll turn out now is our segue now into the talking about the draft lottery, which is our main topic for this show and also it was our main topic for all of this week. We were talking about it and ⁓ expected to see what the results would be. And so we'll talk la lottery first before we kind of speculate on what that might mean for our draft coming up in November, which We have a date. Should we tell everybody? Should we tell everybody what the date is that for the draft that has finally been announced? speaker-1: Think you should tell them, otherwise they're going to clickety click right on through this beautiful analysis. speaker-0: It's already been confirmed. It's November twenty-third. So the draft now has an official date. And so we can now move forward with what we talk about today with the lottery and the results, knowing that that is the be all, end all, start, go, round one, round two, ⁓ date that we'll have for the MLV draft 2026, which we're excited about. We can finally circle it on our calendar, plan flights, because we know where it is. That part we can't say, but we know where we think it's gonna be. ⁓ but yes, November twenty-third, if you haven't seen the now. speaker-1: Mark your calendars, please. Thank you. speaker-0: Let's talk about the draft lottery. The Vegas Thrill got the number one overall pick. We'll just tell you how it worked in terms of the ⁓ selections. So in round one, in descending order, Vegas number one, MLV Los Angeles number two, Minnesota Forge three, DC Flight four, and NorCal Rumble five. In round two, which again the two rounds were independent, had no bearing on each other. It is MLV Los Angeles with the first pick in the second round. Then the Minnesota Forge, NorCal Rumble, Vegas Thrill, and DC Flight, rounding out the top five. The rest of the picks, so six through twelve in round one and round two, were determined by the final regular season standing. So that's from I'm not going to read it off to you, but you could probably see it either on your screen or you could see the graphic, the amazing graphics that we put out ⁓ that were engineered by producer Amy, who always does a fantastic job. ⁓ so that order is completely set. The draft lottery was a fun process. Jenna and Vegas were the number one over pick overall pick. speaker-1: I feel like that's beautifully poetic, isn't it? The return of the thrill, here you go, number one overall pick. A little bit of glamour, a little bit of show business. And I like like you said, Severin, this the lottery was to assign the position for these expansion teams. Whereas everyone else, you get you get to enjoy the order based on your regular season finish. ⁓ super excited for Las Vegas. Bit bit tough for the Rumble at the moment. ⁓ getting a couple lower picks, but ⁓ That leads into the fun part. Now that we have this base information, this is when the really fun part starts talking about picks, trades, what some of these strategies are going to be as teams continue to flesh out their roster. speaker-0: Yeah, we know people had questions too, and that's I think part of the reason why the segue from talking about five for five is such a good one. I mean, one of them was why only two rounds. Yes. I think and and we can kind of segue into our we'll we'll do a little bit of an early mailbag. Okay. So one of the things was ⁓ you know, why two rounds? I think honestly, one of them is is five for five might impact the availability of players. That's just the reality of the situation. speaker-1: A hundred percent. ⁓ the number of college seniors projected to be coming out of college this year has been dramatically reduced, particularly if you consider Severin, the those athletes that we're looking at for especially our first round picks, they've been four year starters. Might be a handful of redshirts here and there, but there are a lot of athletes who have only competed for four years. And with the change in the N Cou A ruling shifting to give you that fifth, like we said before, why wouldn't you stay? So Pool of athletes greatly reduced, keeping it really lean, keeping it really tight to continue to elevate the level of play. I think two rounds makes perfect sense. speaker-0: Yeah, it also means that you know, with those two rounds, each selection, you're going to be getting a player that can help you right now. It's not a player that you can be like, well, I don't know, you know, and that might still happen when you get down to cuts in training cap, who knows? But you're not really kind of you're you're not you're not diluting the pool ⁓ out of players that you need to choose from. Again, as we know with at least for our established teams with free agency kind of having s solidified a lot of rosters, there also for a lot of these teams is frankly not a lot of space left. speaker-1: Yes, exactly. A lot of people have been making a lot of signature signings already. And I think a draft class of twenty-four athletes feels really appropriate and gives a really fair chance to continue to supplement with young talent if that's what your roster currently needs. And I mean, it's it comes down to training camp, right? If you get your spot beaten out by someone younger than you, that's unfortunately part of do it's a part of doing business. It's just show business to that certain extent. So I'm really excited to see. those college athletes who are out of eligibility really coming to make a statement in major league volleyball through the speaker-0: I think it feeds into another question that we got, which is why not a snake draft? I think again, similar scenario. There are not enough rounds where a snake draft doesn't really make a ton of sense if only there are two rounds. ⁓ competitive balance, free agency, like we said, I think it feeds into the answer to that question as well. I got speaker-1: I think some other people were asking why weren't the rest of the picks randomized as well. And I it was really engineered in a way to kind of balance out the competitive advantage. If you recall, free agency opened for existing major league volleyball teams in the middle of season three, somewhere around February or March. So these existing teams are able to retain and re-sign their talent before a lot of these expansion teams have even named their coaches. So that's a very, very, very significant disadvantage. These ex existing teams have had the opportunity To sign existing MLB pros, whereas the expansion teams just simply hadn't existed yet. ⁓ offering them the collective first five or first six, one through six, and then math, thirteen, thirteen through eighteen slash nineteen, offering them those the first choice of picks in each round is a really great way to restore competitive balance to make sure things are being done fairly and our new teams can compete on a new footing. But Clearly, Dallas Pulse didn't think being a new team last season was going to be a huge problem, winning all the way to the title. So just emphasizes the value of that number one pick. ⁓ Mimi Collier obviously led the team in a lot of different ways and it led it to a championship. She's the number one overall pick. Who is it going to be this year? speaker-0: Yeah. It's a really, really good point ⁓ by you there on again the competitive balance and how that all works out. So absolutely. ⁓ I'm I so excited to see who the number one overall pick is gonna be this year. I wanna know right now. We we have a little bit of time to to to figure that out too, and we're gonna talk a little bit about drafts and arrows in just a second. One more question from our mailbag that I do wanna address from our friend Elvis who ⁓ always comes up and says hi when I'm I'm out at events. ⁓ so great to get this question from him. He asks, How long do draft rights ask? This is a perfect question for you, Jenna. Do they go into next season? If a player is unsigned, ⁓ or do they only apply to the current season? Please give us the the explanation. speaker-1: Okay, so I'm gonna pivot. I'm gonna look at all of you. So some things have changed from the initial rules of PVF/slash MLV drafting. Now, in the first the first three drafts of the season, for draft for season one, season two, season three, because the league was new, and obviously we know that there's international volleyball, there is a chance that these college draftees would pursue ⁓ the more traditional route of playing abroad. Not a problem. Very much it, very much advocating for player choice here. However, if you drafted an athlete out of College and she chose to go compete internationally, you would retain her draft rights for the following season after she returns from Europe. Case in point, Kendall Kipp signed, went and played in a really high level, played on a great European team. She came back to the Columbus Fury at the conclusion of that European season. That was her draft rights being exercised. Now, if she had not returned in that same MLV season she was drafted, The only MLV team that would have been able to pick her up would have been Columbus because Columbus held the draft rights to her. Now the problem is with five for five, a lot of these athletes of this caliber, I believe, will likely stay in college. And I believe it was probably the assumption of the competition committee as well. The rules have changed. If you draft a player in the 2026 MLV draft and she chooses to remain in college, you lose her college draft rights. She goes back into the general pool for everyone else for her super senior season and is able to be drafted again. I believe this is a really clever system put in place to prevent someone from scoop scooping Harper Murray this year. I think she's staying. If she doesn't say, I will eat my hat. I'll eat Sutherland's hat. speaker-0: We got a knife Omaha supernovas one to choose from. Under that is a NorCal Rumble one. So there's there's several different options. I'm just like, look at you doing the broadcasting, going from the camera to looking at me. Like now now that we're in person, I get to see the broadcasting chops here. It's fantastic. The full explanation was like when the refs ⁓ come on like in the NFL broadcast, they tell you why someone was a penalty or not. So I love that. That was awesome. But it's it is complicated. It's a complicated ⁓ I I understand the question, I guess, is the point I'm trying speaker-1: ⁓ god, I'm doing my best. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, and I'm ho I'm I'm glad that's why we can be here to continue to explain these little nuances and differences because the volleyball community, the volleyball industry, the landscape is changing constantly, which is something we're so very excited about. It means the sport is growing. However, it means little oddities like this come up. NCAA changing its ruling, draft lottery being smaller, cert all of these things come into play and ensuring a quality product at the professional level and ensuring reasonable competitive balance. As much as you can share it in sports, that's the whole point of sports, is competition, right? And I think this was a really, really clever way to address a lot of these concerns and ensure everything was very fair across the board of all twelve of our teams. speaker-0: Yeah, and I mean even just, you know, you were so amazing at the being the granular right there. I think even just from my zoomed out thirty thousand foot view, the competitive balance is something that I think is so great in our league. And the last thing that you wanna do is mess that up or go into any way that is gonna hinder that. And so I think this is a great way to maintain it, as you said. So that's a great point. speaker-1: Well that's the thing is you continue to maintain competitive balance, that's when we get into pick trading and some really, really interesting, interesting speculation. You can go way down the rabbit hole and listen speaker-0: Do it then. Let's let's do some speculation on it. So we've now completely recapped the questions. We've come we've recapped who owns the top five picks in the first two rounds. And now that we know that, we can make some speculation on what might potentially happen. So I want you to to kick it off because I have some ideas of some things we could see, some things I would do, some observations, but I would rather leave the expert to kick us off. speaker-1: So the thing is a lot of our teams have a lot of talent signed already, correct? And we've become aware of most of that, you know, through the press releases throughout the summer. Those things have value. Picks have value. And we've been waiting on this information on the draft order to figure out what is going to become of some of that leverage. For example, I think of the dilemma John Cook may be facing in Omaha, Nebraska. He's got three fantastic opposites, Kimberly Drebnoc, Merritt Beeson, and Emily Wandot. That's a lot. No, you well, generally you'd hope to play one, but if you don't standard roster construction would generally suggest having two O's, right? And if I'm sitting here, you know, Kimberly Drebnyak is an amazing athlete, ⁓ you're tons of European experience. I would be shocked if we don't see her on the floor at least a little bit. And Merritt Beeson's undeniable star power in Nebraska, plus her incredibly huge run at the late end of last season, that's a huge point. But what speaker-0: Not enough room on the court to play. Yeah. speaker-1: Where does that leave Emily Londot? Emily Londot was a huge, huge, huge component of those and early successes of the Omaha supernovas. Those are all insanely talented opposites that I think could be and should be on their own teams. speaker-0: I also just I I agree and I would jump in to say I don't think she's necessarily, you know, the the odd athlete out, if you will, because you look at how well they mesh together towards, you know, down the stretch, she was an an integral part of the team and a big part of, you know, providing some good scoring a as well. And so it's just interesting to me where I think you have a log jam at the position, but I don't think s it's as simple as saying, Well, you know, Drumniock was signed and Merritt Beeson's Merit Beeson, Londot's out. You know, I think it's something that's like Well, you have three great players and then, you know, like maybe you do keep everybody, but maybe also you're looking around and seeing like is there another position where we might need to add a speaker-1: A hundred percent. I'm pleased. I don't want anyone to think that that's how I was assessing that situation here. Love Emily. Emily's great. I'm saying John Cook is sitting on a wealth of talent. Right. He doesn't need all three of them. What else could he possibly need? Or what else does he want next year? speaker-0: It's an example of the type of situation where now that the draft order is set, that that's an example of we're looking around and saying, Well, that could be that could be a scenario. speaker-1: Exactly. And we've seen previous trades affecting rippling through multiple drafts. We're not talking about merely switching around on the draft board this season. We could be having some serious implications for next season as well. When a lot more of those big names come out of college, where do you go from there? The possibilities are really endless. ⁓ I I think Grand Rapids also has a similar situation. They are sitting on two incredibly talented setters that should be anchoring their own office offense. speaker-0: We've talked about this and this one I think is a lot more cut and dry where like I'm gonna I'll I'll save you from the I'm gonna say it. I think I would love to see them both be able to start. Yes. And so it again, Jenna's Jenna's absolved from this. I'm saying I would love to see a creative trade where maybe you can find a scenario where one of those setters in Grand Rapids is leading their own offense. speaker-1: hundred percent because that's the thing. You've been accumulating value by signing all of these athletes. And even if some of these signings don't seem to make sense, like as you watch the log jam in the supernovas, he's he's attracting value. He is accumulating value and what he uses that value on in the future, that's when stuff starts to get really, really interesting. speaker-0: Yeah. I mean, and certainly, please, you know, the scenarios that anybody can come up with with with trades or things that you might want to see, you know, we'll have we're happy to talk about them. So if you drop ⁓ down in the comments. Now, again, as Jenna said, h I mean, we're obviously not calling for anybody to be traded, but the scenarios are interesting. They're fascinating. And you could definitely see some movement between now and November, and that's what we're highlighting. Jenna, one I wanna talk about, that was a really good one. I had actually Grand Rapids on my list. I want to expand on that because I think it leads into this next one to look at the draft order. So you know, if we're if we're taking a look at at round one and round two, unfortunate luck of the draw, DC gets pick number four and pick number five, still in the top five selections, but that's a roster that we probably look at and say they would they're definitely interested in adding to it. And to me, now this again, I if I'm just looking at DC and if I'm constructing the roster, I say I want more established veteran town. speaker-1: A hundred percent. speaker-0: I look at Grand Rapids picking eighth. I look at Atlanta picking seventh. I look at Columbus picking sixth. Even Orlando picking ninth. I look at these teams that maybe felt like they were one player away, where maybe they've really identified a player from college. They were one player away from from making the postseason. We know that, you know, Orlando, for example, adding Marley, huge, but bringing, you know, the same scorers back, maybe they feel they're one piece away. And so they trade with DC, DC accumulates a a quality starting caliber player to pair with Ramat to further brings not even I'm not I hesitate to even use talent, but to bring a more of a veteran presence that I think they'd probably need. You know, not make sure it's not Ramat shouldering that all on her own. speaker-1: A hundred percent. A lot of times when we talk about trading these picks, we're talking about the value of the athlete coming out of college. And I don't think that's the case. I think it could be the value in offering your picks for that veteran talent, like you said. That could be a good difference maker, especially like you say, Orlando brings back all their scorers. If they find themselves just short one piece that they think college could support, that's very different than a brand new team like DC, who is looking to build that framework from the ground up. speaker-0: Exactly. And you're absolutely right. And maybe if you're DC and you got the first pick, you'd be like, Okay, great, we're set. This is gonna be our young star that we'll build around. We'll pair them with Ramat. And obviously they have a ⁓ you know, their roster is built out even more than that. But I'm just using her as as an example, and it's a great team to talk about because they haven't released their entire roster yet, so we can speculate. Exactly. Exactly. But I think to me that is such a fascinating scenario. Yes. Or your Minnesota. speaker-1: Mystery's about speaker-0: Picking third, we've talked about how amazing their roster is, a bunch of international signings. Maybe they feel like, you know, right now, we don't really need to add a a a a player from the college ranks. I would actually argue the opposite for Minnesota. I would think that's a perfect scenario because, you know, especially if you maybe are going to have them for multiple years, I don't know if that's going to be able to be figured out. But let's just assume that they're they think that they're going to be able to add someone to the veteran leadership that they already have on that team. Minnesota to me is a scenario where you know, maybe they I I mean moving up from three might be tough because I feel like Vegas is probably gonna make that pick. Mm MLV Los Angeles is probably gonna make that pick. Mm-hmm. And then they have the second pick in the second round. But I so Minnesota may be a a team that that makes that pick. But then, you know, I think the same thing for for NorCal as well. You know, a lot of younger stars or that we talk about with NorCal, maybe they don't want to go younger with a college athlete. They wanna, you know, trade for another veteran. Yep. I I think really D C and NorCal are the ones I look at in the top five and I think you could really see some very tantalizing trade opportunities for them. speaker-1: So, but how much do you think someone's willing to pay for that number one pick? We have seen so many compelling arguments. speaker-0: Would you trade it if you're biggest? speaker-1: No, ma'am, it's too good. speaker-0: I wouldn't that's too good. I wouldn't. You've got you've got ⁓ Lekosaur mem member mena. Yeah. You've got Berkeley Oblad. Yep. I I think you might want one more player you feel pretty confident about with scoring. speaker-1: You need that big score. You need that big score coming out of college. You you just need that change. And I'm gonna correct myself back here. So when I was saying so the Merritt Beeson number one overall selection in draft number two, I believe. ⁓ that was more of a bizarre little fluke of ⁓ picks being acquired ⁓ to Atlanta from Columbus. Cla Columbus had traded Atlanta their two first round picks for the s following subsequent years. I believe that put Atlanta at selecting number two. They then traded that traded pick with Indy Ignite to get the number one overall pick to pursue Mara Beeson and select her. Indy then chose ⁓ Anna De Beer, ⁓ but there's no there was a better point. speaker-0: No, I I I loved I mean It's so while you think while you think about Like like But I mean even too if you look at I I know there's only four years of history to really look back on, but you look back at like that's pretty sick to be like, Okay, pick one was Mara Beeson, pick two was Anna De Beer, it's pretty solid But I think that was a perfect scenario of Atlanta identifying a player they wanted and speaker-1: C it gets so convoluted, man. I think that'd be fantastic. Absolutely amazing. speaker-0: And trading up to get it. I mean, same thing. If I if I Merritt Beeson in the draft and and that that was what an ex example of moving up one spot. speaker-1: Moving up one spot with a tr with a pick they had acquired from a previous situation of trading Tory Dilfer Stringer at that point. And they realized they came into this highly valuable piece and they were able to trade up one spot. That's my tangent of what would you pay? What would you give to have that number one overall pick, especially when you know what piece is going to comp they were attempting to replace their big scoring opposite from season one. She wasn't returning. speaker-0: Here's another one that we totally glossed over with the Omaha supernovas. Two picks in the first round. That's pick number eight and pick number ten. We talked about the ⁓ the the wealth of assets that John Cook has. Yes. That's an inde like, you know, so then what if one of the other ⁓ expansion teams wants another pick in the first round? Maybe that pick gets swapped again. And the, you know, one of our expansion teams, like again, let's say you're NORCAL. Okay, you're picking five. Yeah. speaker-1: Mm-hmm. speaker-0: But now you're gonna pick a couple of picks later with the pick that you just got from Omaha and you only have to wait two more selections and you take two players that you identified in the first room. speaker-1: there you go. But that's the question again of understanding the holes you need to fill and ⁓ understanding when you choose to set your cap and pursue a certain player straight out of college, you need to do what it takes to get to that pick. speaker-0: Absolutely. I I I'm so excited to like speculate more on these. And the nice thing about the draft speculation is you can throw out bunch of scenarios and it's all well and good until they actually eventually be completely wrong, but I gotta tell you now I'm rooting for DC to make some trades so to back up my point. speaker-1: So you actually have to stick with it. ⁓ exactly. ⁓ Lazareva, my goodness. ⁓ in pursuit in in season one, Atlanta had a really great opposite in Lazareva and she did not choose to return. She retired after that season. And so Atlanta was really, really confident that that 2024 team was really, really strong and you're missing that one piece in Lazareva. When you identify Merritt Beeson as that successor, that's when you start making those really impactful trades to try and move this thing forward. speaker-0: Jen, I want to speculate a little bit more around the league on on what else we might potentially see. And then I wanna ask you a question about your perspective being a a ⁓ veteran player on a roster, bringing in ⁓ younger talent. Let's start first just or let's continue first with what else do you I mean, you've identified some great options around the league. Anything else that sticks out you out to you, kind of what you were talking about with Omaha, kinda like what I looked at with DC, the Grand Rapids one I think was a really great point. Anything else that jumps out at you from our teams of moves that might potentially make sense? speaker-1: I think those are the most glaring ones off the top. ⁓ that being said, I know that there's so many more machinations going on in the front offices of all of our franchises and you guys will be the first to hear as soon as we know about anything fun, exciting, I might unexpected. speaker-0: start making some some texts and see if I can find out like, Hey, what are you thinking about doing? Yeah. I'll see if I can get some inside info and and well I I might actually start start doing some insider in info digging. See if I can get some ⁓ some news for us on the Set Six podcast would be good. speaker-1: That's gonna fantastic. Because I know we know it's coming. We know it's gonna be good. And I'm gonna be very, very, very antsy and impatient, waiting for n Thanksgiving and November twenty third to roll around. speaker-0: I also fully welcome any of the team representatives to be like, Yeah, no, you're full of crap. We're not doing anything anything like what you said. Like we are scheming this And they're just like, Yeah, this is why you talk and aren't in a MLB front office. speaker-1: It's incredibly forty chess level. Hey, somehow they talk and fill hours and hours on ESPN and daytime television. speaker-0: You know, Mel Kuyper is somehow an expert and I don't know how often he's right on his picks, but I know it's not a hundred percent. So that's all I have to say. No shade to Mel Kuper. Like speaker-1: That's a pretty big shade on that paper. speaker-0: I don't I I believe there's no such thing as a draft expert. Like, especially even, you know, if you go into ⁓ the NCAA bracket ⁓ times and everything you've got the bracketology guys, I'm like, they I don't know. My bracket has just as much of a chance of succeeding as this one that you see on your TV. So I've always believed that though. ⁓ Jenna, I what I did want to ask you was I mean it's a little bit more ⁓ I don't know where I'm trying to go, like ph philosophy. No ⁓ more I it's more about player dynamics. Yes. More ⁓ it's more esoteric. But speaker-1: Esoteric. speaker-0: As a veteran, what is it like during the draft, post draft, when you get that player in? I mean, I'm sure you're you're hearing about it in some capacity, whether or not you're watching or whether you hear about it afterwards. What is that dynam dynamic like? I would imagine sometimes it's probably not the easiest to, you know, get get along with that player when they first join the team, or you maybe have already been doing some casual non team affiliated workouts with other athletes that have been part of the roster. Just walk me through what the dynamics are like once this drafted athlete will join a roster. speaker-1: See, that's the thing. I want to check set the record state. You are typic we're gonna set the record straight. You are typically deep into training camp by the time the draft selections are made in November, yes. However, all of these athletes are generally making very deep NCAA tournament runs. And that tournament run will pretty much run you up to right until the week before Christmas. speaker-0: So my mistake, you would be completely into team. ⁓ speaker-1: So you are aware of who's coming, but you're not gonna meet them. They will not be joining you for that December training camp prior to the January start date. And I think that that poses a really that's a really that's a really great way to challenge your opinion and outlook on sport, right? Especially if you're especially if you're in the same position as the number one overall draft pick because you know that she's coming and you know you're frontline. We're a team, right? We always we're doing everything we can to win. And you know that someone's coming and you won't necessarily have that chance to directly square off against her until darn near the last minute. And I think that that's a really interesting environment. It's a really great pressure hooker to really find out who you are as a person and a competitor and really push the limits of your own self so that you can be the best you can be to compete on an even playing field. That's the esoteric version. Sounds a little dark. My apologies. However, I still think it's a much more open and welcoming experience. ⁓ obviously you don't necessarily get drafted to go play abroad. You finish MCAA and you get spat into a team that has been competing for four or five months already. That that's also a really hard transition. So I think no matter what, your rookie season is gonna be a huge incredible learning curve for the athlete. But I think our extra elements of drafts and some of these other things that bring us more in line with other American sports leagues really challenge you to fully pursue your sport, pursue obviously we're all fully pursuing our sport, but it it heightens things in a positive way. But you it's a challenge you need to rise to. There's no beating around that bush. speaker-0: It makes the Dallas run last year that much more impressive to me when I think about it from this angle. 'Cause to be honest with you, it's not something I'm thinking about when we get to April, May about, ⁓ how was it merging with this team back in November? Yeah. And I I feel like Dallas was probably a very cut and dry scenario of, you know, this is your role, this is where you fit in. And I think it's gonna be fascinating watching how that plays out from the start with a lot of these other athletes and teams and you know It's it's the one where it's you wanna read between the lines because I'm sure no matter who you talk to, no matter who I talk to when we get into training camp, everything's great, everything's fine. And then as soon as the camera stops, it's gonna be, you know, man, I'm I'm fighting for my position with this person. speaker-1: truth. And like I said, I don't mean to be incredibly dark and esoteric about it. But and of course, volleyball is just a such an incredibly supportive community. You're not ill wishing this girl that's come girl, woman, this athlete that's coming in. It's just a fact of the business. And that's okay. That's fine. It doesn't mean, you know, it doesn't mean you change your approach to things, but it is it is certainly something that is in the back of everybody's minds, especially in a training camp environment where you might be over the salary cap or you might be over the roster limit because some hard decisions are going to have to be made. Either way. speaker-0: One of the positives I like, I mean, I think a negative is that, yes, you're so deep into training camp and it's just the nature of the way that schedules go with when we have to play our season within FIVB regulations of when that season starts and then obviously with NCAA seasons, like there's only so much room on the calendar. One of the things I do think is cool is that for NCAA fans who are going to be watching these aftermates all the way through the season, you do not have to stop watching them. They immediately are going right to play with us. speaker-1: I mean huge tip of their cap to the girls that have put in a almost damn near a calendar year. ⁓ in the college game, everyone, you know, there's there's season, right? With the ⁓ championship in December off for Christmas and everything, but there's the spring season. You're training just as much as you were during the fall season for a bunch of ⁓ friendly matches, essentially. And then you think, okay, spring semester's over, time to go home for summer break. No, that's not the case. At these, you know, power four top mid major D ones. You're on campus all summer long training. It's a year long commitment. It's a year long ebb and flow. Now, are they competing year round? No, that's different. However, if you think about it, launching immediately into a major league volleyball professional season, coming off of a full NCAA season is no small feat. And the ability of these athletes to continue performing at a high level while the level of play around them ratchets up a notch, it's impressive. It's no matter how you slice it is a really impressive feat. And hats off to them. speaker-0: I it's it's funny too when you when I've talked to athletes, it's like the first thing you hear is like speed of the game is a big thing. And then to go from literally just playing at different speed to now you have to play at a whole whole other speed. Without speaker-1: The benefit of the doubt of everybody figuring it out in training camp for a little bit. Obviously, you come into training camp prepped and prepared, but that is what training camp is meant to do, is meant to coalesce a core to define your identity as a team, both interpersonally and in your play style. That has been all set without you. Now, maybe it shifts a little bit if you're particularly good at one thing that wasn't necessarily in the formula to begin with, but to a lot of this extent, it's you fitting into that mold greater than the sum of its parts, and you weren't there when the mold was being made, which is challenging, but that's speaker-0: Mm-hmm. speaker-1: That's the nature of it. speaker-0: Well, like, so we're we're talking very w without a specific example in mind. I wanna introduce one because I think this is like let's say Indy takes a player and they're keeping that player or they have the plans to keep that player. Yeah. Like that is such ⁓ in in my opinion, I know Lauren's amazing and is going to like make sure that player is gonna fit into her system as well as possible. But you are walking into a ready made championship team. We don't need a pick, like we're we're running this thing back, everybody's back. Plus like w you know It's just like I I cannot imagine the pressure of walking in to that situation as a drafted athlete. speaker-1: I mean, I think it's a good thing. speaker-0: Good thing you're it's like walking into, you know, the ninety eight bulls, you know, or or whatever example you want to use. Like here's a ready made championship team. They love to have you, but they don't need you. speaker-1: Well then we're back to draftboard speculations. They don't need to remember. God damn it, you you you steer so smoothly. I'm like, wow, how did we get here? That's crazy. But no, that's again. Now I think like, okay, Indy, this is why you're trading your assets for the future for s for something really exciting coming out of college in twenty twenty seven. But I think you're right. It's but what a what an amazing learning opportunity too. That's the thing. I think volleyball is missing ever so slightly. ⁓ I think of the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers drafted in whatever year that was. He sat, he, he sat and he learned from the absolute great Brett Farbe for years. And no one was concerned about playing time. No one was well, maybe he was. You know, he he's not he's a drafted out of college, but he didn't start immediately playing. However, he had the benefit of incubating in that generational quarterback, ⁓ that QB room where you're able to learn from the very best, take notes, and when it is your time to step onto the field. You're absolutely ready. You are a significantly fully formed, fully created quarterback who's able to go on to do great things for Green Bay. speaker-0: Like let's take that scenario, like let's say it's a drafted player for indie, which w with whatever pick they stay in their the spot the spot that they're at. They sit behind that they don't start, they play very minimally, they sit behind everybody for a year, and then they're a free agent the next year. Wouldn't you want that player spend an entire year speaker-1: Incubating. I feel like I'm saying that word too much. It's a little weird, but you they got to play against the indignity. They got to play against the Indie Ignite all day, every day, day in and day out, and really sharpening their skills against a high-level professional team. Just because you're sitting on the bench doesn't mean you're not doing anything. My God, you're learning and getting better every day just along that. And that bite is just a bit more because you s you know what you're capable of and you're ready to you want a place to show that, whether that's at Ignite as you step into a role that may be vacating or if some other teams are keeping an eye on who else they have in their ⁓ in your stable, so to speak, ⁓ I you're it's valuable. It's valuable. And I think volleyball sometimes, and maybe in this new NIL era of people going to look for two, three, four different schools. you gotta do your time. You have to do your time no matter what, no matter what level you are. And I think there's incredible value in being shaped by incredible players ahead of you. speaker-0: There's value in it in all all different sides of it. You there's the Indy, I think, is the perfect counterexample to a a a a spot where a player might want to go right away. And everybody's different. You know, there might be some drafted player who's like, I don't want to sit. And that's that's certainly their their right to think that to me. If I was drafting next or if I was selecting my team next year and I'm in the free agency process and I have the ability to add a player in that scenario, like we talked about. And Indy is one example. Yeah. I'm sure you could apply the same for Omaha and the same for Dallas or wherever you want to go. Yeah. Indy to me just makes the most sense based on how that roster has been filled out. I just think that's such a fascinating like, you know, again, one of the things we just talked about is the transition to the pro game. This player has had an entire ⁓ season to adjust to the pro game. And like we said, I just find that so interesting. And then it's, you know, you can factor in like like the time. How long do you expect to have them for your team? Are they a are do you view them as a starter? Do you view them as a rotational player? I I just I think that. That could be such a fascinating move. And now I don't want you need to trade their pick. Now I want speaker-1: I want us to grow the next future star. And it's good for you. It's important. It's necessary. It's it's all about mindset, right? And what you do with what you're given. speaker-0: Well, we're having a a ton of fun talking about scenarios and trade possibilities and draft possibilities now that we have the board set. Yeah. We should leave some some meat on the bone for future episodes. We have, you know, I think about a month, a month and a half, two months to be able to talk about this. So we have some time to keep though going with more scenarios. But I think we might leave it there on the speculation. You can certainly don't have to stop. You can comment. You can let us know what trades you want to see, what drafting ⁓ positions you want to see, ⁓ players that you'd like to see drafted, all of it. This will not be the last time we talked about the draft, but ⁓ I'm just so happy that we now have a specific order where everybody's gonna be. I feel like somehow we didn't even talk about who Vegas is gonna choose with their number one pick, which we can save for a whole other show. But I mean, lots of exciting possibilities with it. If you cannot tell, we're super amped about it. But we'll leave it there and we'll move on to ⁓ the final segments of our show. The first team the the first thing that we'll talk about, ⁓ which is just looking at my rundown. I mean, producer Mike just really wants me to talk about this. I mean it's it It works now that ca you brought up the football analogy too. ⁓ but yeah, the the way we like to close the show sometimes is by talking things that don't have a lot to do with volleyball. We will mix in some volleyball topics here, I promise. ⁓ but producer Mike would like me to talk about how my football team is terrible and the source of all my pain right now. And ⁓ another reason why I mean there are endless reasons, but another reason why I desperately need actual volleyball to be played soon. It's cause I I'm not gonna have a football season 'cause my team is trash. ⁓ but yes. ⁓ what's nice about this is I can actually say that I I cannot stand watching the New England Patriots right now. But yeah. It's not a Patriots podcast. I just apparently that needs to be said. Thank you, producer. speaker-1: Exactly. And I talked about the Packers just now and the problem is I've not seen the Packers be bad. Yeah. That's not Jordan Love's fault, 'cause Jordan Love also was developing that Q B program. I just don't think he has an O line. speaker-0: It's tough for both of us right now. We're we're very focused on volleyball because both of our teams are not not very great. But it was so funny. I was in a I was in a a Patriots bar, which is a great ⁓ spot in Santa Monica, which I drive all the way out to just to feel like I'm back in New England for a little bit. And it's great. It's like all ⁓ New England fans, pu you you run into people who's like, I'm from Dorchester, I'm from Providence, I'm from, you know, ⁓ Swam Scott. And it's like all different places where I where I, you know, was when I grew up. So for like the hour of the game you feel like you're back in Boston, which is great. It's even more great when we're all yelling at the T V in unison even after the team goes down like thirty-five to eight or whatever it was. So ⁓ yeah. So there we go. ⁓ producer Mike, I have now acknowledged that my football team is terrible and is the source of all my pain. ⁓ so now we can move on. ⁓ and tease that yeah, actually we do have this in the fun topic segment. We are back to volleyball just for a little bit here to talk about ⁓ we said the draft is the twenty third of November. ⁓ do we wanna like Subtly tease where we think the draft is gonna be, where we believe the draft is gonna be. Should be. Let's just say think the ⁓ middle part of your map, ⁓ middle upper part of your map. Yes. What else can we say? speaker-1: I believe the draft should be. Right of center. This this geography left this geography left sin is riveting. speaker-0: It's not great. It's not great. I could I I should have thought of a better way to anyway, there there probably will be a very specific location. speaker-1: The draft is gonna be at a specific location? What a concept. speaker-0: Yeah. In in Midwest. Sure. We'll leave it at that. Coming your way soon, you'll you'll know where the draft will be. ⁓ but again, November twenty-third, your date for that. ⁓ finally I wanted to close up the the fun topics with volleyball's been having a a cool moment specifically in popular media, or at least what I consider to be popular media. ⁓ with Brooklyn Delee was on NFL countdown. Alex Smith dissected her throwing a football. speaker-1: It's Beautiful. speaker-0: And she threw like a strike. That was a missile. It was un unbelievable. I I was impressed. I I was like very ⁓ very, very surprised to see. speaker-1: Kentucky. Yeah. Edmund going to the Wild Cot Wildcat's Hall of Fame. speaker-0: Yeah. No, it was ⁓ i I mean she should she should try out for the football team, honestly. With with that. I mean the throwing motion was was amazing. ⁓ and that was so cool. I was watching NFL countdown, I like, ⁓ my god, that's what? That's crazy. speaker-1: I've that in like Terrafect, Blue, Wildcats? ⁓ I've taken speaker-0: A second or click and then you're like, ⁓ yeah, that's that was really cool. And then ⁓ we missed talking about this a couple of weeks ago, but I watch a lot of Bob does sports on YouTube and then they were talking about the Nebraska match that we were at in in I I think they were talking about Wrigley, but might have been before, even before Wrigley. and and how ⁓ how just how electric Nebraska volleyball is which ⁓ I would challenge Bob and the crew ⁓ to you know come out to an ⁓ MLV match and see how they feel about that. The spreads are amazing. ⁓ the atmosphere, I think, especially, you know, get them out to an Omaha match. That could be incredible. ⁓ maybe back to back if you're going in a a Nebraska match and then go go over to Omaha and go see a supernovas match could be good. Maybe, you know, bring them out to the expansion teams. You can rank who has the best game day spread, I think could be pretty cool. Okay. ⁓ you know, so there's a lot for for Bob and the crew. And ⁓ we're certainly happy to make any connections that need to be made there. But I'm just love to see them talking about Nebraska volleyball because I think everybody has noticed how impactful it speaker-1: Hundred percent. ⁓ s it sets the tone. Rising tide lifts all boats, man. speaker-0: Yeah. I'll take it. Absolutely. So ⁓ those two things definitely caught our eye from, you know, kind of taking a skim through ⁓ social media, popular media, and hope that that continues to happen. So ⁓ yeah, and then we keep advancing closer to the season, which we will continue to say, please get here soon. And with with that, we're we're gonna wrap up the show, but we're so excited also to talk more about the draft coming up. Like we said, this is not gonna be the final show where we talk drafts positioning and who could possibly be ⁓ taken. We do have several more interviews coming up with you or for you for the rest of the month. and ⁓ also some more news that we'll be able to talk about next week as well. Some actually pretty big news that we will talk about. We'll not we're not gonna tease it any more than that, but it Yeah, which will be changed. speaker-1: This this changes a lot. A lot, but not but a lot. speaker-0: So ⁓ Jenna's expert perspective will be really helpful when we talk more about that next week. ⁓ but for now that's gonna do it for episode, what do we say, twenty four? Twenty four? Twenty four. speaker-1: You're gonna hit your six month anniversary severin, that's so great. speaker-0: Well I'll wear like a fun party hat or something. Maybe like the you know, the ⁓ birthday queen or whatever, but it'll be like in the set six podcast. I'll go. We'll we'll get Amy to to print that for speaker-1: Hello. No, no, no, no, that's Jen and Canva right 'cause that's the co that's the level of fidelity you get for this. speaker-0: That sounds good. But always great to be with you all. Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Set Six Podcast. Once again, if you've forgotten, which I hope you haven't, we are the official podcast of Major League Volleyball. ⁓ we appreciate you tuning in on either Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please continue to like, comment, share, and subscribe. It's how we get more viewers. ⁓ please continue to submit your questions for the mailbag. I know you probably still have a lot about the draft. We're happy to answer them. ⁓ please ⁓ go over, check out the shop and get your Ren Essentials, get all geared up. For next season, which is fast approaching. You want to make sure that you're all decked out in some great MLV gear. And I also challenge you. I want to see yeah, look, Jenna's Jenna's ⁓ representing some of them right there. ⁓ I actually have one too as well. ⁓ yeah. I can see that. ⁓ we wanna ⁓ I challenge you all. I wanna see more of them when we go to our ⁓ college events as well. You know, would love to see some MLV gear going around. I know that you're there because we we see you stopping Anna DeBeer and Mara Beeson and Taylor Lanfair and all the athletes that we have there. So, you know, we want to make sure that you're decked out in some LLV swag as well. So speaker-1: Do we get to do a sweepstakeslash giveaway something? speaker-0: We're certainly trying. We, you know, we would love to. We gauged the interest on that a little bit earlier in the show's ⁓ in the show's lifespan, but we maybe we bring it back and see what we might be able to give people. ⁓ so that might be coming in the future as well. ⁓ but again, thank you for listening to episode 24. Thank you to producers Mike, Jenna, and Amy. It doesn't happen without them, and it does not happen without you. Once more, everybody, from live and in person, this has been the Set Six Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in, everyone, and we'll see you next time. speaker-1: Hi five, buddy.